Things That Were Meant To Be
by Vegea Kalorale
Summary: Logan has been having dreams of a woman for several weeks now, what happens when she shows up on the school door step broken and bleeding. And where does X23 fit into all this. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

The colored leaves of autumn briskly rolled about the grounds of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Rain had been threatening to pour down all day and now that the evening was rolling in, the chances were more against them. Logan sat in his room staring blankly out the window as though he were searching the sky for answers. A soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"Come in." He called out. The door opened slowly and the former X23 walked in with worry written on her face.  
  
"Hey Logan." She greeted him as she brushed her brown hair out of her face, "You feeling alright."  
  
"Yea, I'm fine." He lied to her.  
  
"You haven't seemed fine in a couple of weeks." She replied as she leaned against the window frame.  
  
"I've been having these dreams.about this woman."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"I don't know, but I do know." Logan tried explaining, "She's crying for me to help her."  
  
"Have you talked to the professor?" she asked him.  
  
"I keep thinking I'll be able to figure it out over time," Logan said, "but I keep getting more and more confused by these dreams."  
  
"Are they all the same?"  
  
"No," Logan said.  
  
"Maybe she's someone from your past." X23 suggested, "Before the experiment."  
  
"I wish I knew." Logan said, "Shouldn't you be studying, you are actually attending high school now you know."  
  
"I was just taking a break." She smiled as she stood up.  
  
"Well don't worry about me, I'll figure it out." Logan said to her.  
  
"The professor can help you know." She said on her way out. Logan watched her walk away, still left in thoughts of his dreams.  
  
The rain that would be pouring down in Bayville, currently, was pouring down in the Canadian town of Drummondville. A woman ran for her life through the muck and mud created by the rain. She ran toward a tree and swiftly rose to its branches as a pack of dogs made their way closer to her. She caught her breath for a moment as she focused her thoughts on something.  
  
"Damn it." She cursed as she looked behind her to see how far ahead she was. Seeing that it wasn't much, she felt her options growing smaller. Off in the distance she heard a train horn blowing. She quickly ran and leapt off the branch catching her foot in the mud on the fall. She struggled for a few moments desperately trying to pull herself from the trap. She saw the dogs approaching her as she pulled her leg out; she threw herself forward to give herself some sort of head way. She ran as fast as her legs could move heading towards the train. She made it out of the forest, but unknowingly took a spill down a steep hill at the edge of the forest. The fall helped her gain some head on her pursuers, but her tumble came to an end against a fence. Once she hit the fence she jumped up and grabbed onto the top and pulled herself over it, and again falling into the mud. She quickly got up and ran towards the train tracks. She focused her thoughts again as she raced towards the tracks.  
  
"Got one." She smiled as she ran. Her would be captors took their go at the fence as they watched their target take to the sky. Fearing that she would escape one tracker fired 4 shots into the sky. The first three missed but the last one caught her side. She lost her standing in the sky as she felt the bullet hit her side. She closed her eyes as she fell towards the earth. A few seconds later, she fell through the top of a train car and landed on its floor.  
  
Logan shot up in his bed, covered in sweat and shaking quite a bit. He looked out the window to see the lightening flash outside. Realizing that it had only been a dream he slowly got up out of his bed and walked out of his room. He slowly walked down the hallway taking in the peacefulness of the school at this hour. Knowing that there were only a few souls awake, he made his way towards the kitchen hoping to find something that might clear his mind. He walked into the kitchen to find Beast sitting at the table reading a book.  
  
"Isn't it a bit late for literature?" Logan asked as he sat down across from him.  
  
"Ah, my friend, it is never too late for a Midsummer Nights Dream." Beast replied, "What brings you out at this hour?"  
  
"Couldn't sleep," He answered as he looked out the window, "Give me some advice, Hank," Logan started, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of the door bell.  
  
"Now who could that be at this hour?" Hanks said as he and Logan stood up to go to the door.  
  
"It better not be any more of those damn kids from the school." Logan said as they walked to the door. As they made their way there, they faintly heard a soft knocking. Logan put his ability to use taking in the scent of the air. "I smell blood." Logan said as he ran ahead of Hank towards the front door. The smell had gotten stronger as he reached the door, and so had the storm. Logan opened the door and immediately caught the knocker in his arms. Logan brushed the mess of mud and hair away from the face to reveal the woman from Logan's dreams, "She's covered in her own blood!" He panicked.  
  
"Get her to the med lab." Hank said, "I'm going for the professor." The two went their separate ways. Logan picked up the fallen traveler and ran towards the elevators that would take him to the med lab. Once there he laid her on a table, he lifted up her shirt to find a large gun shot wound to her side. Looking at it, he was immediately hit with the vision of what had happened in his dream.  
  
"Who are you?" he whispered to the woman who was fighting to stay conscious. Her eyes began to roll as she tried to speak.  
  
"Lane," She barely whispered, "James, help them." She weakly reached up, placed her hand on his cheek, and tried desperately to focus on something, but her efforts were in vein of the unconsciousness over taking her. Just then, Hank and Charles rushed in and Hank began to check the woman's vital stats.  
  
"She," Logan hesitated for a moment trying to collect himself, "she has a gun shot wound on her right side." Logan moved back to let the doctor work, but he never let his eyes stray from her.  
  
"Logan," The professor said as he moved towards him, "Do you know this woman?"  
  
"I've been having dreams about her on and off for a few weeks." Logan replied as he watched Hank remove her shirt so he could wash the wound on her side. As he pulled off her shirt a chain came off around her neck and both were discarded to the ground. Logan walked forward and picked up the chain. Logan swallowed hard when he realized the tags on them were identical to his. The only differences were the names and numbers on them.  
  
"What's her name?" Charles asked. Logan was silent as he looked at tags then at the woman.  
  
"Her name is Kristine." Logan said.  
  
Minutes turned into hours that Logan kept watch over this woman. He tried so hard to figure out where this woman fit into his past, or if she even did. Those hours turned into days that Kristine's condition stayed critical and almost a week had passed before she had started to show any sign of recovery. Her eyes fluttered open as bright lights came into her view. She tensed as she tried to figure out where she had ended up.  
  
"Kristine." A voice came from the other side of her.  
  
"What happened?" She weakly asked as she slowly pushed her brown hair out of her face.  
  
"That's what I was hoping you could tell me." The professor said to her. She looked at him for a moment, and he gave her a baffled look.  
  
"You're a telepath, why didn't you just read my mind?"  
  
"Because I didn't have your permission," He replied with a smile. Kristine pushed herself up and clutched her side, "You have a gun shot wound on your side, you need to take it easy."  
  
"Lane! James!" She said as she panicked, "I have to get to them." She swung her legs over the side and attempted to stand up. The professor took her hand and helped her stand, "Oh GOD, they could be dead already." She started to panic more.  
  
"Calm down." Charles assured her, "We'll find them." Kristine found her clothing that had once been muddy, were clean and folded on a chair next to the backpack, which she had carried. She looked at them for a moment as she again focused her attention on something.  
  
"There are so many here, finding the right one." Kristine said as she searched the mansion for a mutant ability that would be right for her. As she found the one that she needed, her eyes and face were washed over with a look of disbelief, "It can't be."  
  
"Is there something wrong?" Charles asked her. Kristine turned to him and her wounds healed within seconds. "It depends on who you're looking for." Charles half confirmed. Kristine limped over to the chair where her clothes laid, then moved behind a curtain to change.  
  
"Please take me to him." Kristine asked of the professor. The professor nodded then led the injured traveler out of the med lab.  
  
A few minutes later Kristine and the Professor were on the main levels. They walked off the elevator to and made their way down a long hall way. Off in the distance a figure stalked towards them. Kristine stopped in her tracks as she watched Logan come closer. Tears of an unknown emotion began to stream down her face. Once Logan came face to face with her, he took notice how much shorter she was from him.  
  
"How do you feel?" Logan asked. Kristine focused on him again; Logan gave her a confused look, "Did you just tap into my power?"  
  
"I did. I'll be just fine in time." Kristine half smiled.  
  
"We have a lot to talk about."  
  
"We do?" Kristine asked, "Because I've been under the impression you were dead for the last 15 years."  
  
"What made you think that?"  
  
"S.H.I.E.L.D." Kristine replied  
  
"Kristine, I'm going to see if I can locate your children. I'll call for you when I've found them." The professor told them before he left them.  
  
"Let's go outside." Logan replied half confused  
  
"I don't have a lot of time; I have to get back to Canada." Kristine revealed as they walked out the back door.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"My children; our children have been taken by a group that calls themselves Hydra." 


	2. Chapter 2

Logan looked at Kristine for a moment not knowing what to say. The woman obviously knew a great deal about his past, but was it genuine; that was the question. He figured he would have to listen to what she had to say before he made up his mind. She obviously went through a great deal to get there.  
  
"OUR?" Logan exasperated.  
  
"Don't you remember?"  
  
"I have no memory of my life before the experiment." Logan revealed to her. Kristine looked as though she stopped breathing as those words sunk into her. She looked down and away from Logan so that he could not see more tears fall from her eyes.  
  
"Experiment?" Kristine questioned as she continued to look away.  
  
"Yea," Logan grumbled as he extended his claws to show her. Scared, she jumped back.  
  
"Who did this to you?" Kristine said with tears in her eyes.  
  
"I don't know," Logan, told her. Kristine moved closer to him, took his hand, and examined the metal.  
  
"Adamantium." Kristine said in shock.  
  
"OK, I want you to start from the beginning," Logan insisted, "Who you are, what we were; everything." Kristine swallowed hard before taking a deep breath.  
  
"I'm originally from Montana, but after a series of hate crimes against me, I moved into Alberta when I was 19. While I was applying for citizenship, I read on some job opportunities with their government. So, when I talked to someone about employment, they told me that they have wonderful opportunities for mutants." Kristine started.  
  
"Canada's acceptance of mutants was always outstanding." Logan nodded, "Especially in government."  
  
"Well, I was recruited for S.H.I.E.L.D."  
  
"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Logan said in shock.  
  
"It was just forming, Fury wasn't even in the picture, but you were." Kristine smiled, "I had never met someone so eager to beat the shit out of something." Logan laughed at her comment, "So we went through their extensive training regimen, and I emerged, what you called, The American Psycho." Again, Logan laughed out loud as Kristine opened her backpack and pulled out her cigarettes and lit one quickly, "We didn't see much of each other after that, until about 4 years later." She sighed, "Stuff happened and I fell in love with you."  
  
"Stuff happened?" Logan eyed her, "I have no memory of my life before the experiment, and all you're going to tell me is stuff happened?"  
  
"It's not important at this moment in time," Kristine snapped at him.  
  
"Maybe not for you?" Logan told her.  
  
"Ok, we hated each other, and when I say hate, I mean we wanted to kill each other." Kristine told him, "So when we were paired up for a project, we were less than thrilled, in fact you almost quit."  
  
"I can't imagine why?" Logan growled.  
  
"Well you didn't quit, and we made our way to Russia." She sighed as she continued to smoke, "We were trying to infiltrate their government agencies because our spies there informed us of Omega Red and his capabilities, and we, you and me, two people who would have taken delight in seeing the other bleed to death, went to stop a mad man."  
  
"Why did we hate each other?"  
  
"I don't know why you hated me, but I thought you were an arrogant, uncouth, mannerless mountain man." Kristine said with a bit of spite.  
  
"So what happened then that lead to you and I having children together?" Logan asked with a half smile.  
  
"When we were in Russia, I saw a different side of you." Kristine smiled, "We were undercover as a honeymooning couple. I think our superiors thought it'd be funny." She smirked spitefully, "But, I had gotten word, while we were there, that my parents and my sister had been murdered in Montana. Someone had chained them to the living room floors and set my family's home ablaze."  
  
"Biggots." Logan growled.  
  
"But we had to put our mission on hold for almost two weeks because I couldn't function." Kristine said, "I drank so much and I hoped for death. But it was you that beat some sense into me," Kristine smiled, "then cleaned my wounds and held me until I couldn't cry anymore. The next day we went back to work a better team."  
  
"Did we get what went to Russia for?" Logan asked.  
  
"We got more out of it than we even bargained for." Kristine replied, "Because not only did we get the information on Omega Red, we found a revolutionary new metal called Adamantium." Just then, the professor, in their heads, interrupted Kristine and Logan's time.  
  
"Sorry for the interruption, but I need to see you both." The professor told them.  
  
"Come on, I'll show you were to go." Logan said as he helped Kristine to her feet.  
  
Logan walked with her to the professor's office. When Kristine walked into the office, she stopped in her tracks as she came face to face with the former X23 who was standing next to the professor. Kristine was breathless as she looked at the young woman before her. The eyes that she had only seen once in her life rendered the traveler speechless.  
  
"Is there something wrong?" Charles asked her. Kristine blinked a few times before snapping out of it.  
  
"Sorry, I just had déjà vu." Kristine lied, "Did you find them?" She choked out.  
  
"I did, in a base in Northern Alberta." He revealed, "They're alright for the moment, their powers are hindered at the moment, but Cerebro found the boy when he tried to use his powers less than an hour ago. It didn't take me to much longer to find the girl. She seems a bit weak."  
  
"Professor tells me that Hyrda," X23 growled out, "took your children. I want to help you get them back."  
  
"Absolutely not, Kid," Logan cut in, "I'm not letting you walk back into their hands."  
  
"I don't think there is anything you can do to stop me." X23 smirked back. Kristine watched the two argue with a confused look.  
  
"Kristine," The professor started, "X23 was a project of Hyrda's for many years. She is an engineered clone, of sorts, of Logan."  
  
"A clone?" Kristine asked, "So you're mutation is an exact replica of Logan? You'll get along with Lane." Kristine told her, "That's her ability."  
  
"She's like me?" Logan cut in.  
  
"Bone claws and all."  
  
"What about the boy?" Charles asked.  
  
"James is gifted with the ability to connect himself with any electronic device, like computers, and retrieve the information on them. He can also control them; bring them to life. He is able transfer himself from computer to computer, things like that, through the wiring."  
  
"Interesting." Charles commented, "I'm anxious to meet him."  
  
"Kristine, what is the full extent of your abilities?" Logan asked.  
  
"I can synch onto any mutant ability I want, but the mutant has to be with in a mile of me." Kristine admitted.  
  
"What wrong with Lane?" Logan asked.  
  
"She's weak, from what I don't know. But, at current they are in no immediate danger. They are being held as captives in."  
  
"Fort McMurry?" Kristine said as though she had a revealation.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You don't think that they would be trying the Weapon X project on her do you?" Logan asked Charles.  
  
"That I don't know."  
  
"What's Weapon X?" Kristine asked. Logan, Charles and X23 looked at her not really knowing how to answer her question. Finally, X23 answered her.  
  
"It was the process of experimentation that did this to me." The girl answered as she showed her own set of claws. Kristine covered her mouth with one hand as she took one of the girl's hands into her own.  
  
"They did this to you too?" Kristine trembled. X23 looked confused at the emotion that Kristine was releasing, "I kill them for this." She growled a she stood up.  
  
"Try and remain calm, we will help you, but you have to let me find more information." Charles assured her, "Perhaps you should rest for a while."  
  
"I can't rest now. My children are in danger." Kristine cried out.  
  
"Please, shower, rest, something, but remain calm." The professor told her, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have much to do." Kristine got up and walked out of the office, half tempted to just leave and get her children on her own.  
  
"Don't even think about it." Logan said as he walked up behind her, with X23.  
  
"What?" she replied.  
  
"I've got this funny feeling that you're going to take off and go after them yourself." Logan smirked at her.  
  
"The bulk of Hyrda is tough; even I couldn't take them alone." X23 admitted.  
  
"I know, I already tried, that's how I ended up in a coma for a week." Kristine said, "I don't know who these people are, what they do, where they came from, and I don't care. What I do care about is that these people have ruined too many lives, I intend on repaying them for that pleasure."  
  
Logan had found Kristine a room a few doors down from his own. After the hell she had been through in the past two weeks, she wanted to do nothing more than sleep. But every time she tried all she could think about was her children and the danger they could be in. Then there was X23, so familiar, the eyes of that child seemed to burn her heart. Sleep was not an option; so instead, she sat in a chair and watched as the sun set over the horizon and night cover the sky. It was nearing midnight now, and the waiting was killing her. She got up and finally left her room. She quietly walked around the mansion trying to clear her head. She walked into the kitchen to find X23 sitting at the table eating an apple.  
  
"Hello." Kristine greeted, "What's your name?"  
  
"I don't have one." The girl told her, "I was Hydra's weapon, so they called me X23."  
  
"X23?" Kristine asked with angered eyes, "These people, who are they?"  
  
"They're spies, but even to me, their true purpose goes unknown." The girl told her.  
  
"Kristine," came a soft voice from behind them, Kristine's heart stopped at the sound of his voice, "how are you feeling?"  
  
"No better, no worse." She replied, as X23 stood up.  
  
"I'm going to bed," the girl told her, "Let me know if you need anything."  
  
"We'll talk again soon." Kristine smiled as she watched the girl exit the kitchen, "She's like a daughter to you?"  
  
"I'm the closest thing she has to family." Logan replied.  
  
"A lot closer than you think." Kristine whispered to herself.  
  
"Did you get any rest?"  
  
"Logan, how can I sleep when Lane and James are where they are?" Kristine snapped at him.  
  
"You hungry?"  
  
"Yes." Kristine replied.  
  
"Come on then, I know a diner with killer Fish n' Chips." Logan smirked at her.  
  
"How did you.." Kristine started, but stopped herself with a smile.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing." She laughed as she stood up and followed Logan out of the kitchen, "Do they have malt vinegar?"  
  
A few hours later Kristine and Logan found themselves at an all night diner in town. Logan spent a good part of the time asking Kristine about their children and what they were like. Kristine's laughter at some of the stories she relayed was contagious, because Logan too had found himself laughing.  
  
"Logan, when I met you, you didn't trust anyone, not even me. Why is that you're trusting me now?" Kristine asked, "I could be full of shit."  
  
"Generally, when someone is lying, they're a bit tense, and I can smell it." Logan relayed, "You're not tense from lying, you're tense with worry. I don't know if what you've told me is true or not, but I'd like to find out."  
  
"That's right." Kristine nodded as she remembered his abilities, "You can sense it."  
  
"Are you up to finishing where we left our conversation earlier?" Logan asked, "If you're not ready to, I understand."  
  
"I supposed," Kristine sighed, "So where were we?"  
  
"Discovery of Adamantium."  
  
"Right," Kristine sighed with a heavy heart, "We found this metal. Our government starting working on ways to manipulate this metal. We were the first to test it with bulletproof vests and other weapons. Somewhere in all this, I fell in love with you."  
  
"You fell in love with me?"  
  
"I know it sounds stupid," Kristine half smiled, "I was 23 years old, you were twice my age, maybe older, who knows, I didn't even care. But, we had finally become friends and I was enjoying just being your friend, your lack of manners didn't even bother me any more. I didn't know what was wrong with me. But it's funny what liquor and lack of inhibitions can do to a couple of friends." She sighed  
  
"I can only imagine." Logan smirked, Kristine smiled and looked into her coffee.  
  
"Later that year, I found out I was 3 months pregnant." Kristine told him as she lit a cigarette.  
  
"Not to sound rude, but you're sure they're mine?" Logan asked her. Kristine smiled at him.  
  
"There wasn't anyone else, and there hasn't been since you left." Kristine replied sadly.  
  
"You loved me that much?"  
  
"Our relationship was something that just happened, we couldn't even explain it." Kristine smiled, "I know you thought of it as a friends with benefits situation, but I told you not too long after it started that I was in love with you." Kristine sighed again, "When I told you I was pregnant, you were so excited. You demanded that I quit my job, which I would not do, at least not right away." Kristine said, "Towards the end of my pregnancy, while I was on maternity leave, you moved into my apartment. One morning you left for work and never came back. It wasn't uncommon for this to happen, but after three weeks of sleeping alone, I started to worry. I went to headquarters to find out what was going on and our offices were in chaos. I really wasn't sure what was going on, but I was told that you were MIA and our commander, along with the rest of our full team, had been killed."  
  
"I guess I was captured," Logan answered her, "I really don't know."  
  
"I was a week over due when I went back to work. S.H.I.E.L.D brought in Fury and I was supposed to show him the ropes. He helped me deliver James and Lane. After they were born, I quit my job in government, severed my ties with S.H.I.E.L.D. and moved to Windsor to become a waitress. The first year or two after you were gone, are a big haze for me. Between raising my children and my own issues, I don't remember a lot." Kristine sighed.  
  
"I don't know what to say," Logan said, "This is the first thing I've ever learned about my life and I don't know whether or not to believe you."  
  
"I understand," Kristine said.  
  
"What brought you to the school?" Logan asked.  
  
"After the kids were taken, I tried to break into an old military base that Hydra operates out of north of Toronto." Kristine said, "but I was unsuccessful."  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"I knew I needed help, I couldn't go to S.H.I.E.L.D. and I'll be damned if I'm going to ask Vindicator and his gang of schmucks for help, but I had heard about Xavier and his school and I thought maybe he could help me." Kristine smiled, "I never thought in my life I would find you there and alive."  
  
"I've been having dreams about you for the past 3 weeks." Logan revealed, "I had one the night you showed up on our door."  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes, dreams about you fighting for your life, dreams about you crying, and none of them made any sense." Logan told her.  
  
"I've cried for you for every night for 15 years, Logan." Kristine admitted, "I wanted so hard to believe that you were alive but, if you were, I was sure that you would have found me." A few stray tears found their way to her cheeks as she bared her soul to her former lover. But, a warm hand found its way to her cheek to wipe them away.  
  
"Well, I'm here now, and I promise you, we're going to get back our children." Logan said as he took hold of her hand and held it tightly in his own. Kristine did not tell him, but her heart melted as she heard him refer to James and Lane as their children. 


	3. Chapter 3

Two guards carried a young girl down a long hallway of cells at Fort McMurry, her long brown hair hanging in knots over her face. Occupants of the other cells looked up from their sorrows as they drug this poor girl back to her cell. They opened the cage door and simply threw her to the ground like an old rag doll.  
  
"Lane!" James screamed to her from his cell, across from his sisters, "Lane!" No matter how many times he called to her she didn't wake, "Guards, please cage us together." The guard said nothing to James as he walked away. James walked back over to his iron cot and sat down and with his father's brown eyes watched his sister's seemingly lifeless body. Hours passed before Lane started to move. She slowly pushed herself off the ground and rose to her feet. James got up and slowly walked to the front of his cell, "Lane, what did they do to you?"  
  
"I don't know." She mumbled as she sat on her cot, "I just wish it would stop." She started to remove the bandages from her legs. There were needle marks all over them along with a rather large circular scar on her calf, "Why hasn't mom come for us James?" She started to cry.  
  
"She will, I'm telling you, she'll be here." James said, as he poked at the device on his head stunting his powers.  
  
"Before I die from this torture?" his sister wept.  
  
"I assure you, girl," Came a voice from down the hall, "This will make you better."  
  
"You stay away from her!" James growled as he ran to his cage door, "You're going to regret this."  
  
"Please, leave me alone, Viper." Lane weakly pleaded with her, "I'm nothing. My abilities are useless to no one but me."  
  
"I have over seen this project numerous times, only one being as successful as you." The woman known as Viper smirked with her dark green lips, "While it wasn't quite as successful as we had hoped, we learned from our mistakes. Your fathers ability to heal so graciously passed on to you." Viper smiled deviously.  
  
"It means nothing to us," Lane said as she laid down on her cot, exhaustion settling in, "We never knew our father."  
  
"I find it fascinating that his abilities were passed on to two of you," she said looking at Lane, "and not all three." She turned her head to James, "Be up bright and early tomorrow we have a world of work." Out of nowhere, Lane got up and ran to the front of her cell.  
  
"Don't you have someone else to torture for awhile." Lane growled as tears ran down her tan complexion, "Piss off you worthless excuse of nature."  
  
"As a matter of fact, I do." Viper smiled as she signaled to two guards who immediately came stomping in. Lane watched the guards barge into her brothers cell. She watched her brother struggle and put up a fight for a few moments before he was rendered unconscious.  
  
"JAMES!" she screamed as she rattled her cage door, "Please, don't take him from me please!!!" Viper said nothing to the girl as she cried for her brother. Then, just as quickly as they came in, they were gone and so was James, "JAMES!!" Lane continued to scream, "JAMES!"  
  
It was Kristine's turn to be startled awake by disconcerting dreams and her woman's intuition. Her stomach was turning in several directions and it made for a very nervous feeling. She got up and nervously walked about the room for a few minutes, before she noticed an X-man uniform on the dresser with a pair of boots on the floor. She picked up the uniform and held it in front of her. She sighed as she looked at the blue and yellow uniform in front of her. She quickly discarded her current clothing and changed into the outfit provided for her. She looked at herself in the long mirror hanging on the back of the door. The outfit was blue with yellow markings on the shoulders, around the short sleeves, and an X over the left chest. She sat down on the bed and slowly put her boots on. They were not clunky, which was a plus for her. Her fighting style would never tolerate clunky boots. Still feeling very nervous about something, she quickly walked out of the room and looked to her sides, seeing no one and hearing no one made her nervousness worse. She stalked down the long dark hallway coming to the staircase leading to the front door. She focused her mind on Logan and took on his power enhancing her hearing, but just as she did, someone came up behind her.  
  
"Hey!" X23 said as she walked up to Kristine. Startled Kristine whipped her head around and caught her breath.  
  
"Oh, it's you." Kristine panted, "Where is everyone?"  
  
"They're in a training session." The girl told her, "I'm exempt from daily training because of my.condition."  
  
"I understand." Kristine smiled at the girl, "How long until they're done?"  
  
"It's Wolverine's training session." Kristine nodded as she continued to look around herself, "Is something wrong?"  
  
"I can't shake this nervous feeling, I feel like something bad is about to happen." Kristine said, "I don't know what." The young girl listened around her and took in scents of the air. The girl looked up at Kristine with fear in her eyes.  
  
"Someone's coming." The girl told her.  
  
"Go!" Kristine snapped, "Get Logan!" Just then, several guards for Hydra came bursting through windows and ceiling fixtures. X23 extended her claws, ready to fight for her freedom, when the front door burst open and a creature with a pale complexion and a red uniform came in, "Oh, shit." Kristine freaked out. Kristine grabbed X23's arm and threw her down the hallway from which she came, "GET LOGAN NOW!" Kristine ran down the staircase to charge at the intruders but was met by two sets of Carbonadium tendrils, one around her feet and one around her neck.  
  
"Well, well, well," Omega Red laughed, "if it isn't the American Psycho." Fear took over the look in Kristine's eyes, "I always did love the look of fear I could instill in your eyes, because I know you can't take my powers or you'll be stuck with them." Omega Red tightened the grip around her neck slowly cutting off circulation, "Guards, find the girl and restrain her."  
  
"Good.luck." Kristine managed to whisper out as her eyes began to glow, "now.piss off." With that, Kristine's eyes tore open violently and the force behind the blast blew Omega Red back out the door he came, taking most of the frame with it. Kristine fell to the ground and looked around her. Suddenly, she disappeared from her position and re-appeared a short while later running along side X23. She grabbed the girls hand and disappeared from site again. The guards that were chasing them stopped in their tracks and looked around themselves in confusion.  
  
Kristine appeared with X23 in the Danger Room where Logan and the other students were having their training session. As they appeared in the middle of it, the session was instantly stopped. Kristine looked around realizing that X23 was safe, she teleported out of the danger room and back into the main hallway.  
  
"This is a school, not a war zone." A voice came over head of the guards. They looked over their heads to see Kristine leaping towards them. She landed in front of one guard and roundhouse kicked him in the chest sending him flying down the hall. She picked up the runner on the floor and shook it as hard as she could knocking the intruders to the sides. She quickly ran up to one, grabbed him by the head and slamming him against the opposing wall. Then flipped herself over one guard, taking his shotgun with her and fired a shot into his back. She snapped the gun in half, with her bare hands and threw the pieces aside as the guards took their cue to leave. Kristine walked down the hallway towards the front, when Omega Red walked out from behind a corner, just as Logan and the other students came up behind Kristine.  
  
"What is going on?" Logan said.  
  
"Lady Hydra has promised me my Carbonadium synthesizer, so I do not intend on leaving with out the girl." Omega Red said as he threw a series of metal balls into the hallway, "I don't usually use such devices, but for this I will." Less than a second later, the devices exploded in a flash of extraordinarily bright multi colored lights, blinding everyone.  
  
A few minutes later, the lights subsided and most could see again. Kristine looked around quickly and noticed that X23 was gone.  
  
"LILIANNE!" Kristine screamed as she ran towards the front door. She ran down the staircase and out the hole that was the front door see a helicopter flying away from the school, "NO!" she screamed again as she clenched her fists into a ball. Everyone ran out the door to see if anything could be done. As they walked out side, they all felt the pressure drop as they saw an enormous amount of pressure building up around Kristine.  
  
"What is going on?" Scott asked Logan. Logan said nothing as he watched, but a few minutes later he realized what was going to happen.  
  
"Everyone, back in the mansion!" Logan yelled. Everyone, except Logan ran back into the mansion. Logan watched as Kristine exploded with power leaving a huge crater in the front yard. As the pressure returned, Logan walked towards the woman who was bracing herself on her knees. He realized quickly that she was crying, "Kristine." He said softly. She said nothing as Logan helped her to her feet then took her into his arms, "We'll get her back." Logan then picked her up and walked back in the mansion.  
  
A few hours later Kristine walked into the professor's office and slowly took a seat in front of his desk. Nothing was said between the two until Logan arrived a short while later.  
  
"Kristine," The professor started, "is that what your ability is like when you take on too many at one time?" he asked. She nodded.  
  
"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't." She replied, "I was too angry to make it work this time."  
  
"I can tell by the tone in your voice," the professor said in reference to Kristine, "and by the look in your eyes," referring to Logan, "that there is nothing I can do to stop you from going after them." Suddenly Logan turned to Kristine with an inquisitive look on his face.  
  
"Lilianne?" Logan asked, "Why did you call her that?" Kristine turned her head from him.  
  
"I don't know." She lied, "But undoubtedly they've taken her to the same facility that they're holding James and Lane."  
  
"Don't lie to me." Logan said, "I know you know a lot more than you're telling us." His voice got louder, "Now you better start telling us everything you know."  
  
"I don't have to tell you shit." Kristine growled.  
  
"Oh no, because James and Lane are my children too, and now Hydra has my other daughter, and I'm starting to wonder if you led Hydra to us." Logan accused her.  
  
"You," Kristine growled venomously, "think that I used her as a trade for my own children!"  
  
"No one thinks anything of the sort, Kristine." The professor said, "What I think Logan is getting at is maybe they followed you here and found her."  
  
"No one followed me here."  
  
"How do you know?" Logan snapped at her, "You were half dead on our door step when you got here."  
  
"I was alive enough to make it here."  
  
"Hydra has probably always known where X23 was," The professor cut in, facilitating them, "they just had to wait for the right moment. The important thing now, is that we get her out of their hands and get your children back. I'm sending Storm, Scott and Jean with you to Canada. I will not risk any one else."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere until she tells me the truth." Logan snapped.  
  
"I've told you all I know."  
  
"Bull shit!"  
  
"You know what?" Kristine snapped as she stood up, "I don't need you, or your students, I'll get my children on my own." She moved towards the door but Logan stood up and grabbed her wrist.  
  
"You think just because I'm pissed at you, I'm going to let you go." Logan snapped back at her.  
  
"You can't stop me." She simply stated.  
  
"I believe I can." Logan snapped  
  
"You're not my employer or guardian." Kristine said  
  
"Do you remember what happened last time you broke into one of Hydra's bases?" Logan said.  
  
"They may have gotten the best of me, but I certainly took a few of their numbers in the process."  
  
"You don't think they're going to beef up security a bit since your last performance?" Logan snapped back.  
  
"I've been through worse." Kristine said.  
  
"Oh really?" Logan huffed back, "Tell me then? You came here looking like your body went through a blender."  
  
"I was a trained special operative assassin for the Canadian government." Kristine snapped as she got in his face.  
  
"You think your training is still up to speed?" Logan snapped back.  
  
"Is yours?" Kristine said.  
  
"You sure you can remove guards and create a clear path for MY entry?" Logan firmly stated.  
  
"Give me 15 minutes, and I'll give you door." Kristine simply stated. Just then, Scott, Jean and Storm walked into the office.  
  
"We're leaving in one hour." Kristine said as she walked out of the office with power behind her walk.  
  
Lane was sitting on the floor of her cell waiting desperately for the guards to return with James. Suddenly as if her prayers were being answered, the door at the end of the hall opened and four guards came in, but they weren't carrying James, it was someone they had never seen before. The guards opened the door to her cell and threw the unconscious girl to the floor.  
  
"Do you people have no souls?" Lane snapped at them as they closed her cell door and marched out. Lane looked at the girl on the floor. She brushed her hair out of her face and drug her towards her cot. Lane used all the strength she had picking the girl up and laying her down on the cot, "Welcome to hell." Lane whispered to her as the hall door opened again. Lane moved towards the cell door and watched as her brother walked, in a trance like state, back into his cell. He stood in the center of it for a moment before he collapsed on the ground, "JAMES!" Lane screamed. As she did, the girl on her cot woke up and jumped to her feet. She looked at Lane who was white knuckle gripping her cell bars.  
  
"Where am I?" The girl asked. Lane looked at the girl with her tear stricken eyes.  
  
"I don't know, but we're experiments for Viper." Lane replied.  
  
"Viper!" The girl shrieked with a growl. The girl held up her fists and released her set of adamantium claws. Almost instantly, X23 screamed in agony and retracted her claws.  
  
"The device on your head stops you from using your powers." Lane told her as she wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.  
  
"Who are you?" X23 asked.  
  
"I'm Lane." She replied as she leaned her head against the cell door, "That's my brother James." She said nodding towards her brother.  
  
"Lane and James." X23 nodded, knowing who they were, as she sat down across from her, "Are you guys ok?"  
  
"We're still alive," the girl sighed, "for now."  
  
"What has Viper been doing to you?" X23 asked.  
  
"Testing my body. For what, I don't know." Lane shuddered, "Lots of needle poking, endurance testing, I always wake up with scars like these," She pulled up her leg to reveal a circular scar on her leg. X23 looked at her leg, then pulled up her pant leg to reveal an identical scar.  
  
"They wouldn't be." X23 said in confusion.  
  
"Doing what?" Lane asked.  
  
"Your mutation, what is it?" X23 asked with urgency.  
  
"Enhanced sense and these bony claw things," Lane replied, "I don't know what Viper wants with me."  
  
"She's trying to succeed with you, where she failed with me."  
  
"Failed at what?"  
  
"Creating the perfect weapon, which is what I was molded to be." X23 replied with spite in her voice.  
  
"Why did she fail with you?" Lane asked, "You seem fine to me."  
  
"Too long of a story," X23 told her, "But don't worry, people are coming for us." 


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost dusk of the following day when the Blackbird landed about a half mile away from Fort McMurry. Kristine walked off the jet in her borrowed X-men uniform. Logan took the in the scent from around them. He growled at it.  
  
"What's wrong?" Scott asked of him.  
  
"I can smell the fluids from the tank." Logan hissed as they walked through the forest towards the base, "I would know that smell anywhere."  
  
"So they are attempting the Weapon X project here." Storm replied.  
  
"Not as long as I'm here, they're not." Kristine growled.  
  
"We don't even know if they've done it or not." Said Jean.  
  
"Just keep your eyes open, we don't know where guards are stationed." Logan said. A few minutes later, they all walked out to the edge of the forest and were shocked by the number of guards standing in front of the seemingly one layer building. Kristine's face-hardened as she focused her power.  
  
"Jean see what you can find in that building." Scott told her. Jean put her hands to her head and focused on the building.  
  
"I can see that there are several under ground levels." Jean said, "But I can't see where any prisoners are.  
  
"I think we just walked into something bigger than what we originally thought." Kristine revealed as she squatted down.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Scott asked.  
  
"I have a slew of powers to pick from." Kristine told him as she pulled out a small pair of binoculars and looked over the base, "There are so many mutants around here."  
  
"I'd pick some good powers to use then," Scott said to her.  
  
"I can only use one at a time," Kristine said, "and right now, it looks like I'm going to take someone's agility."  
  
"I'm not letting you take on those guards alone." Logan said firmly.  
  
"You think you can get in there?" Kristine sarcastically asked him.  
  
"They'll take you in seconds." Storm told her.  
  
"In a minute, I'll have guns and you'll have your door." Kristine told them, "Just stick to the plan."  
  
"How are you planning on getting in there?" Logan asked her as he took hold of her arm. She smiled at him seductively as she shook off his hand and took off running down the hill towards the base. The four, left in the trees, watched in shock as Kristine ran towards the base wall and lifted herself up and flipped over the wall. As she landed inside the base, she latched onto a power of strength and kicked a guard in the chest, sending him flying into a brick wall. Within seconds, more guards were charging towards Kristine. She ran up to another guard, flipped over him, kicking his face in the process and flipped over two more guards, taking their guns while in flight. She shot two of the guards, mortally wounding them, as she landed on her feet. A guard, then, grabbed her from behind and held her as tight as he could. To free herself, Kristine kicked one leg up hitting the soldier in the face. She then swung her leg up and around taking out 2 more in the process. She fought with several more taking them down with minimal blows to her face and chest. She jumped up kicking another guard in the face and landed with one of her legs around the neck of another. She quickly twisted her body, breaking his neck. Continuing to shoot at anyone she could not physically touch.  
  
Meanwhile, Logan was watching the scene unfold from the forested area with his jaw on the ground. She dodged bullet after bullet, and returned every attempted punch with a kick.  
  
"She's good." Logan said matter of factly.  
  
"Let's just stick to the plan." Scott said.  
  
"How will we know when to proceed? Jean asked. Just then, Logan took off running towards the building. As he did, Storm, Scott and Jean followed in suit. As they reached the base wall, Scott opened his eyes and blasted the sidewall down creating an entrance for them.  
  
"COME ON!" Scott called to everyone. A few of the guards turned their attention to the new intruders hoping for an easier battle. Logan turned to the guards and took them out with ease. As Scott and Jean made their way into the building, Logan ran back out for Kristine who was still taking care of what was left of the guards. Logan grabbed Kristine's arm as threw her into the building. Once inside, Storm created a wall of ice to block the hole in the wall.  
  
"What was that for?" Kristine snapped at him.  
  
"We're not arguing here." Logan sighed, "Where are they?" he asked.  
  
"The holding cells are on one of the lower levels." Kristine said as the intrusion alarms sounded.  
  
"You two go," Scott, said to Logan and Kristine, "We'll hold them off."  
  
"NO!" Kristine shouted, "I'll stay here with Storm and Jean, we'll hold them off, you two go." Just then, a door opened up revealing a group of guards. Scott and Logan nodded and took off running as a door burst open to reveal a new group of soldiers. Kristine focused her powers for a moment before her eyes began to glow purple and something resembling a dagger appeared on her arm, "You like picking on mutants?" Kristine said as she leapt at the guards, "Well try picking on me!"  
  
Meanwhile, Logan had sliced apart a set of elevator doors and he and Scott were climbing down the elevator cables as a quick step towards their destined level. Once they reached the bottom floor, Logan again sliced through the door. Scott and Logan took off running in opposite directions looking for the holding cells. A while had passed before they ran into each other again.  
  
"Nothing, they're not down here." Scott said as he stopped running. Logan looked around for maybe something they had missed.  
  
"We don't have time do check every floor, someone's bound to already be on to us." Logan growled.  
  
"Wait, you have an exceptional sense of smell right?" Scott asked him.  
  
"Yea, so what?" Logan answered.  
  
"Take a whiff for something that smells like you." Scott said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Wouldn't it make sense that your children would smell like you?" Scott said.  
  
"Good point." Logan answered. The two were quiet for a second as he took in the scents of the building, "This way." Logan said as they ran back in the opposite direction. They ran down a few hallways before Logan stopped again, "They're above us." Scott charged up his blast and then shot his beams upward. Once the rubble and dust cleared Logan boosted Scott up through the hole, then Logan jumped up himself. Once above the two found themselves in an empty cell. They took a look around at all the people in the cells. Logan unleashed his claws and swung away at the cell bars giving them an exit out in a second.  
  
"Go find them, and I'll see what I can do about getting the rest of these people out." Scott said to Logan. Logan quickly walked down the line of cells looking at everyone trapped there. When he finally came to a cell with a young man asleep on an iron cot. Logan took a couple of swipes at the bars of the cage creating an opening.  
  
"Hey kid." Logan said to the young man, "Wake up. You're getting out of here." The kid opened his eyes and looked at the man standing over him. The sight of seeing his own eyes staring back at him was almost more than Logan could handle, "James?"  
  
"Yea." James said as he stood up, "Who are you?"  
  
"We'll get more acquainted later." Logan said, "Right now we gotta get out of here. Where is your sister?" He asked as he ripped the machine stunting his son's powers off of his head.  
  
"They took her and the other girl this morning, they haven't been back since." James revealed.  
  
"Who took her?"  
  
"Viper, she's been experimenting on Lane almost everyday." James told him.  
  
"Do you know where she is?" Logan asked him as they walked up to Scott.; James nodded in the affirmative to Logan.  
  
"I can't figure out how to open these cells." Scott said in frustration.  
  
"I'll get it." James said. Within seconds a few sparks resonated from the cell doors and they all opened. The door to the hallway opened as well, "Everyone, get out of here!" He yelled to the other prisoners, as he, Logan and Scott ran in search of Lane.  
  
Kristine, Jean and Storm had taken care of the guards and were now on the search for the children. Kristine had explained to Storm that she could feel James down below, but Lane was somewhere close by, when they walked into a laboratory. Kristine walked up to a set of X-rays and lab reports. Her eyes widened as she looked at them.  
  
"These are Lane's," She gasped, "It looks like they already started her process."  
  
"Yes, you always were a quick one." Came a voice from behind them. Kristine turned around Viper standing behind her.  
  
"Viper? What is this about?" She snapped, "Where is my daughter!?"  
  
"Lane, she's fine. In fact," she smirked, "she's better than she's ever been."  
  
"What did you do to her?" Kristine screamed as she ran towards her, but was quickly stopped by three guards holding up their weapons to her.  
  
"We stole the information from the original Weapon X program years ago, and have spent countless years working perfecting it." Viper started, "The original weapon was a failure, and so was our X23, but now, X24 will be the perfect one." Viper smirked, "We figured out our problem with the original Weapon X was that the adamantium cannot be fused with the skull. The results from that are.. well you know."  
  
"You were never an operative for S.H.I.E.L.D," Kristine realized, "You only weaseled your way into our program so you spy on us?"  
  
"That's what I do. That's what my organization is all about." Viper laughed, "We deal in information, dearie, and sometimes we go to great lengths to get that information." Kristine's eyes began to glow a red color as she stared Viper down.  
  
"I wouldn't Kristine, after all Lane isn't finished, and you wouldn't want anything to go wrong would you." Just then a large cylinder containment unit rose from the ground. It was filled with an unknown liquid substance and in it, her daughter floated helplessly.  
  
"Lane." Kristine whispered with tears in her eyes.  
  
"And just so you don't try anything stupid," Viper laughed as she pressed a button on her wrist and a wall turned over revealing, X23. The young girl tried to struggle in her bonds, but as she did, shocks of electricity waved over her. The girl screamed in pain as she stopped struggling.  
  
"Tonight I put the finishing touches on the project that I have worked so hard to perfect over the years, and you are not going to stop me." Viper demanded, "Then once we clear her mind, and the mind of the other, these two girls will be greatest weapon this world has ever seen." Lane looked through the glass at her mother and saw the worried look on her face. She signaled to Kristine that she was ok.  
  
"Let them go." Jean said as she stood next to Kristine, "We'll let you walk away from all of this, just let them go, and we'll leave."  
  
"Are you crazy?" Viper laughed, "Walk away?" She laughed more manically, "I've worked to hard on this just to give it up like that."  
  
"They're children; my children that you stole from me," Kristine growled almost psychotically, "They're not your toys or your creations." Kristine said, "You've taken away so much from their lives and my own, are you just going to continue taking from me?" Viper started to walk towards the tank containing Lane. Kristine started after her, but Viper quickly stood to stand up to her.  
  
"Do you think I don't remember what you can do? That's why you were chosen." With those words three guards rushed to Kristine, two held her down as one put the same device that stunted her children's powers on her head, "Let's see how you hold up now."  
  
"Please, just let Lane go, use me instead." Kristine pleaded with him, "I'll latch onto her abilities and you can use me."  
  
"You're not included in this part of the plan." Viper snapped at her as she turned on the machines, "You weren't even supposed to live past Windsor." Kristine watched in horror as her daughter was set to have her bones laced with adamantium. She watched as her daughter screamed in pain.  
  
"STOP!" Kristine screamed. Just then, Logan threw open the door with a look on his face that could kill.  
  
"Let her go, Lady!" Logan growled fiercely.  
  
"The original Weapon X!" Viper smirked, "Have you come to ruin this project too?"  
  
"I'll ruin as many as I have to just to make sure what you did to me doesn't happen to my children." Logan growled at him. James cocked a quick eyebrow.  
  
"You're too late," Viper laughed at him, "The feed for her arms has already started." She flipped another switch causing the device on Kristine's head to electrocute her. Kristine dropped to the ground screaming in her own pain. Scott released a blast from his eyes and pushed half of the guards back, but more guards piled into the room, "Keep them away from the tank, I won't let them screw this up."  
  
"Good luck, asshole." James snapped as his arms turned into wiring and he quickly fused with the machine his sister was trapped in.  
  
"NO YOU FOOL!" Viper screamed, "If you stop it now you'll kill her!" Fearing he would harm his sister, James quickly unfused with the machine, instead ran to X23 and released her from her bonds. Logan rushed to Kristine, who was clutching her head on the ground, and quickly removed the device from her. Viper saw her whole plan falling apart and decided to run for it.  
  
"Logan, get Lane out of that tank. I'm going after Viper." Kristine barely breathed out as she stood up. Logan left Kristine to collect herself and rushed to the tank that contained his daughter. Logan looked at it helplessly as he knew there was nothing that could be done.  
  
"We have to stop this thing!" X23 shrieked.  
  
"We can't, you heard Viper, it'll kill her." Logan said as he fought guards off from the tank. Jean had created a shield around the tank so that none of the guards could reach Logan. James had converted his arms into several long wires and used them to choke the life out of the guards that had so badly mistreated him over the past two weeks. Kristine on the other hand had run off after Viper. The guards were an easy obstacle. Logan watched as the last of the adamantium drained into his daughter. The metal quickly cooled to her bones and the liquid drained from the tank. Once the liquid drained and the tubes removed themselves, Logan slashed the glass on the tank and broke his way through to his daughter. He looked at his unconscious daughter for a moment, a realization set in as he looked at her. Quickly, he handed his daughter to James.  
  
"Jean! Scott!" Logan yelled, "Get them out of here, I'm going after Kristine." Logan said as he ran out of the room, "You go with them," He said to X23, "I'll deal with this here." She nodded at him.  
  
"Come on, let's go." Jean said as Scott created an exit out of the building. Lane shook herself awake as Scott's blast went off.  
  
"Lane, we're getting out of here." James told her as he held her in his arms. James let his sister down to her feet.  
  
"Where's mom!" Lane yelled.  
  
"She'll be ok; we're not leaving without her." Scott said as he took her hand and started to lead her out.  
  
"NO!" She screamed as she pulled her hand out of his, "Did she go after Viper?" No one answered, "She's going to kill her! She was supposed to killed the night they took us."  
  
"How do you know?" X23 asked.  
  
"Because she told me," With that Lane ran in the direction she could smell her mother.  
  
Meanwhile, Kristine was slinking down hallways, tracking Viper like a wild animal. Making random clinks and clanks to test her nerves, and making spook calls to make sure she knew who was behind it all.  
  
"You can stop running now, Andrea. You'll never hide from me." Kristine cooed as continued to taunt her from the rafters above her, "Not now, not ever."  
  
"Leave me alone." Viper whined in a wimpy voice.  
  
"Aww, is some body whining because they've lost." She cooed more, "Someone down there is a sour puss about losing."  
  
"SHUT UP!" Viper screamed as she pulled a gun out of her coat and fired two shots into the ceiling.  
  
"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to catch me." Kristine said as she flipped down on the rails and kicked the gun out of her hand, and just as smoothly kicked Viper in the face sending her crashing to the floor, "I don't need mutant powers to deal with you, Viper." Kristine said as she walked over to her and put her boot heel on his chest, "I was a hunter/destroyer, remember. I was an assassin, remember. Tracking shit like you was my job, and I liked it. But I had to leave my home with S.H.I.E.L.D and become a waitress." Kristine growled out the last part as she kicked her the chest, "A fucking waitress. You even took one of my children from me and ruined her childhood. You stole my baby!"  
  
"I regret none of it." Viper smirked as she grabbed her leg and flipped her on her back, "Looks like someone forgot what I used to do too?"  
  
"I didn't forget, I just figured since you got OLD you couldn't do it anymore." Kristine snickered as she flipped herself up to her feet and gave her enemy a low sweep bringing her crashing to the floor, "Opps I hope I didn't break your hip."  
  
"Why do you care so much for these children?" Viper asked her as she stood up, "They're not yours."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Kristine asked.  
  
"They're not yours. They're Logan's alright, but your eggs weren't used." Viper said. Kristine's face was washed over in shock, "You were just the host."  
  
"I was never part of any of your projects." Kristine snapped.  
  
"But on top of all this, your memories are all a façade." Viper laughed, "I really thought you had figured it out. You were another of our great projects."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Kristine said as a tear rolled down her face.  
  
"See, Kristine, you did work for S.H.I.E.L.D and you did meet me when I was infiltrating their systems, but then your name was Karen or something," Viper smirked, "You were involved with Logan, which is why it was imperative that we use you, it made the memories so much easier to alter." Kristine glared at Viper as she spoke, "Anyhow, I found the plans for the Weapon X program through Department H and decided it was something I had to work on. So, we had you kidnapped, and impregnated you with three eggs. The boy was supposed to get the traits but when we found it in X23 instead, we had to alter our plans."  
  
"So my children were supposed to be guinea pigs?" Kristine yelled now crying.  
  
"Your eggs weren't used, they're not your children." Viper laughed more.  
  
"I bore them, they are mine!" Kristine snapped back.  
  
"You see, Kristine, most of your memories with Logan were fake too. You were in our captivity for the 9 months you were pregnant." Viper snickered, "After their birth, we dropped you off in Windsor to let you live there and raise those kids until we needed them. Most of your memories are fake."  
  
"So you stole my whole life from me, and gave me a new one that never really happened." Kristine growled.  
  
"I think we have a winner!" Viper cheered, "You were supposed to die in Windsor a few weeks ago, but some how you escaped. We couldn't have you interfering like this, now could we."  
  
"I don't even know who I am." Kristine said as tears rolled down her face, "You stole my life!"  
  
"Now, this is where I make sure you don't interfere again." She pulled another gun out from the back of her pants and fired off three more shots, missing her completely. Kristine ran up to Viper, but instead ran up the wall next to her and flipped around and wrapped her legs around her neck and reached up the grab the rails above her. She found strength in her that she never thought she had, as she tightened the grip on her neck and lifted her off the ground.  
  
"KRISTINE!" Logan screamed ran to them, "Let her go."  
  
"You're lying you son-of-a-bitch!" Kristine screamed at her, "They're mine, it's not fake. Those are my children and my memories."  
  
"She's got nothing left. All her work is destroyed; nothing she wants done will be seen in her life time." Logan pleaded to her, "The kids are out, along with all the other prisoners. You've won."  
  
"WHAT!" Viper struggled to breathe out as she struggled.  
  
"I've won?" Kristine snapped, "Won what? She stole my life from me, nothing I've told you is real. She has taken the only thing that ever mattered to me."  
  
"Darling, let her go and we'll talk." Logan said one final time. Kristine's face hardened as her hold softened. A few moments later, Viper fell to the ground like a pile of bricks. Kristine let go of the rails and landed on her feet next to her. She knelt down next to her, and grabbed her by her hair.  
  
"If you or any of your people come looking for me and MY children ever again, I'll snap your neck like a twig." Kristine said as she let go of her head and walked over to Logan. With that, Logan and Kristine turned their backs on Viper and began to walk away.  
  
"You think this is over!" She screamed as she stood up, "They're not yours, they're mine, they belong to me. I won't let you interfere again!" Kristine stopped in her tracks and turned around only to find Viper had picked up her fallen gun and opened fire. 


	5. Chapter 5

Two shots were headed directly for Kristine, and before she could even react, one had lodged itself into her shoulder, and the other found its way into her abdomen. Kristine staggered for a moment before she dropped to her knees clutching her stomach. She was about to fall on her face when Logan caught her in his arms.  
  
"Kristine." He whispered to her, "Don't let her win." Kristine weakly smiled at him as she brought her hand up to his face and ran her fingers down his cheek.  
  
"Not so quick now, are you?" Viper laughed. At that moment, Lane ran into the room from the opposite direction.  
  
"MOM!" she screamed, "You do you think you are?" Lane stalked towards Viper, "Bust up my house, kidnap my brother and me, and shoot my mother!"  
  
"Lane, NO!" Logan called to her, but Lane was too angry to listen to anyone than her head at that moment. She stalked closer to Viper.  
  
"Let me see your abilities now." Viper smirked at her as she raised her gun to the child, "Show me what you've got." With a scowl on her face she held her hands up to her sides and released a pair of adamantium claws. Shocked, Lane stopped in her tracks and examined the addition to her hands.  
  
"YOU!" Logan growled as he propped Kristine against a wall and stood up, "She's nothing more than a child and you saw it fit to do that to her!" Logan extended his own set of claws and stalked up behind her. Viper turned her back to Lane to deal with, what she thought, was the real threat.  
  
"This hardly has anything to do with you." Viper told him. Logan was about to charge at Viper, when something stopped him. "Nature." Viper simply stated. Logan stopped in his tracks and his claws retracted back into his hands, "I read your file Logan, I know your fail/safe." With that, Viper fired the first shot at Logan hitting him in the shoulder. Logan was knocked to the ground clutching in arm. She walked up to Logan, who was already starting to heal, "This is where I say good bye." As she placed the barrel of her gun right on Logan's chest.  
  
"I don't think so." A voice came from behind him. Viper didn't have time to turn around before she felt a pair of claws baring her signature pierce the skin on her back, "Drop the gun." She sternly said as her victim dropped to her knees. Viper dropped the gun, which Logan quickly picked up. As he did, Lane retracted her claws allowing Viper to fall to her imminent death. Logan walked over to his daughter and took her hand in his.  
  
"Come on; leave her here to die alone." Logan said as he led his daughter away. Kristine who had latched on to Logan's power was slowly starting to heal. Logan picked her up and the three walked in silence away from their past.  
  
As Viper watched the three leave her sight, she weakly pulled a small communicator out of her coat. She pressed a small blue button on the side of it, instantly blue lights began flashing about the entire building, and a loud warning signal blared in its wake. Viper began laughing to herself.  
  
"If I'm going to die here, so are you!!" Viper continued to laugh.  
  
Logan stopped in his tracks as he walked with Kristine in his arms and his daughter at his side. He looked around at the lights and the sound; he knew what was going on.  
  
"We've got to hurry; this place is going to go up in smoke." He said to Lane as they began to run towards the exit.  
  
"I think that the exit is two floors up," Lane said, "There's an elevator around here somewhere."  
  
"Lead the way, darlin'." Logan said as Lane took the lead. The two ran as fast as they could around corner after corner looking for the elevator. Just as they reached the elevator, a red alarm light began to blare, "The elevator's out."  
  
"How do you know?" Lane asked.  
  
"Red means fire; something has already caught fire in this place." Logan said, "But there's gotta be a stair well somewhere." Logan took lead as his daughter followed while they looked for the stair case. As they ran past an open hallway towards a dead end, Lane stopped in her tracks.  
  
"Hey, fire exit!" She said as she pointed down a hallway. Logan stopped and turned around.  
  
"Logan, put me down." Kristine said, "I can make it." Logan put the woman on her feet, as the two ran down the hallway that Lane pointed to. Within minutes the three came to a dead end at a door. The two women stood aside as Logan sliced through the door with in a matter of seconds. As Logan burst through the hole he created, Kristine turned the doorknob and opened the remainder of the door. Kristine smirked at Logan as she watched her daughter walk into the stairwell that they had for so long searched. They ran up several flights of stairs before they reached their destined level. As Logan opened the door to the main level, a tremendous rumbling could be felt throughout the whole building.  
  
"The lower level has already started to blow." Logan said, as they began to run towards the entrance. Just then another loud rumbling could be heard close by.  
  
"It's getting closer!" Lane yelled. After a few more turns they finally reached the hole Scott made allowing them an entrance to the building. They ran out side of the building and through the hole that Scott had also made in the side of the base wall. More explosions could heard as they ran further and further away from the base. As they made it to the forest the rumbling became louder as the building exploded in a fury of fire and flames. Kristine stopped in her tracks and turned to watch the building burn, the wind blowing her brown hair out of her face. Logan and Lane continued to run towards the Blackbird, unknowing that Kristine had stopped. Kristine shed tears of an unknown emotion as she watched the building burn. Maybe it was confusion, or sorrow, or relief, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she didn't know anything about herself. She choked on her tears as she turned and slowly walked in the direction of the Jet.  
  
Once Logan and Lane had reached the jet, Lane stopped and turned back to her mother who wasn't there. The door opened on the jet and James came running out to his sister and wrapped her in a bear hug. It was then that Logan noticed that James towered over his sister by about a foot.  
  
"Where's mom?" Lane said with panic in her voice. Logan noticed as well that Kristine wasn't behind them, but he wasn't worried.  
  
"She's coming." Logan told her, "Use your senses; we're going to teach you a lot about what you can do."  
  
"Who are you?" Lane asked as X23 came walking out of the jet.  
  
"Yea, you said we'd get acquainted later." James recalled.  
  
"I might want to leave that explanation to your mother." Logan said as he signaled to them that there mother was walking closer to Jet. Both children ran off to greet their mother. Logan watched as both children threw their arms joyously around Kristine, but was heartbroken to see how hesitant Kristine was to hug them back.  
  
"Mom, are you ok?" James asked, "You seem so worried." Kristine looked up at her children with pride and tears in her eyes.  
  
"Come on, let's get out of here." Kristine said.  
  
Everyone was on their way back to the mansion, Kristine had spent a good time looking at her children, starting to believe what Viper had told her was true. But, how could that be, she had all these memories of their conception, of her life with Logan before he disappeared, and not one of them is real. Kristine stood up from her sitting position and turned her back to them.  
  
"Mom, were kind of sick of waiting for explanations." James said to her, with impatience in his voice.  
  
"Kristine," Logan started, "We're all waiting for some sort of explanation here."  
  
"15 years ago, I was pregnant with triplets, and when they were born, I was told only two survived." Kristine said finally turning to them, "They told me of some wacko complication with my third child. They never let me see the body of my second daughter." Her eyes rested on X23, "I named her Lilianne." Logan's eyes widened.  
  
"My name is Lilianne?" X23 said  
  
"You were the child they stole from me." Kristine said as tears welled in her eyes, "Just like my life."  
  
"I have a sister?" Lane said with a smile looking at Lilianne. Kristine noticed the smile on both Lane and James faces.  
  
"Here's the kicker," Kristine said turning her back to them again, "Logan is your father, but I'm not your mother."  
  
"What!" James and Logan snapped.  
  
"I was only supposed to be a surrogate, of sorts." Kristine sighed, "Another woman's eggs were used. I knew that neither of you have any of my traits, I just assumed you got all of Logan's."  
  
"But if you're not their mother, who is?" Logan asked as he stood up, "Did Viper tell you that?" Kristine shook her head.  
  
"I don't care!" Lane snapped, "I don't care, you raised us, you're our mom." Tears began to fall from her daughters eyes. Kristine turned to smile at her.  
  
"Mom?" Lilianne said standing up and wrapping her arms around her mother for the first time.  
  
"It's not over," Kristine said as she turned to Logan, "apparently, my "memories" of my life with you were all fake."  
  
"Fake?"  
  
"Viper or someone put the memories in my head." Kristine said as more tears rolled down her face, "The first real memory I have is when Hyrda dropped me off in Windsor, right after I gave birth. Everything I know is a façade. To top it off, I know all this stuff about your life before the project, and I don't even know if it's true to tell you. You know even little about yourself than I do, and I can't even fill in your gaps. My name might not be Kristine, I may not be from Montana." Tears were freely falling from her eyes know, "Who gave her the right to do this to me? To us? I have the right to know who I am." Logan walked over to Kristine, put his arms around her, and held her tight.  
  
"I don't give a crap what that woman told you back there. You are the mother of my children, do you hear me?" Logan sternly told her, "We'll figure out our lives together, because maybe that's the way it meant to be, and I'm willing to take that chance with you." Kristine rested her head on Logan's shoulder for a minute before James, Lane and Lilianne got up and joined in the family hug.  
  
A few weeks had passed since Kristine had found out the truth about her children and her supposed life. Logan and her children were a strong support for her. Logan had spent a great deal of time helping Lane adjust to her new abilities and showing her how to not let the pain bother her. James and Lane were both now attending high school with the other students. Lane and Lilianne had bonded quickly and both loved the idea that they were sisters. Lilianne helped Lane adjust to her new ability and Lane helped Lilianne adjust to civilian life. Jason had become great friends with the other kids in the institute and looked forward to the excitement that laid ahead of them in their training. Kristine knew her children were happier than they had ever been. She wished she could feel the same. Kristine stood in front of the window in her room. She had latched onto the professor's power to look into the present to know where to start looking for her life. But, she found she didn't have the control needed to achieve  
  
"Find anything out there." Logan asked as he walked into her room.  
  
"No." Kristine sighed, "I don't have that kind of control. But, I did feel some mighty powerful forces out there. You might want to keep on your toes."  
  
"I know this is hard for you." Logan said, "Believe me, I know how you feel. I've been searching for years for some shred of evidence that I was even born, and I've got nothing. At least you have some sort of memories."  
  
"You see me as Kristine Treubaux," Kristine sighed, "mutant assassin, waitress, mother; but I don't see that. I see myself as nothing, now."  
  
"But you are something."  
  
"And I have to find out what that is." Kristine said, "You know as well as anyone the desire to find out who you are, to piece together something you've lost."  
  
"Where are you going to go?" Logan asked, "Do you even know where to begin?"  
  
"I'm going to have to get in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. or go to the CFG main head quarters." Kristine said, "It'll be difficult, but it's a start."  
  
"When are you leaving?"  
  
"Now." Kristine said. She hesitated a few minutes before she spoke again, "Can you promise me a few things?"  
  
"Anything," Logan responded with a genuine smile on his face.  
  
"Tell the kids I'll be back as soon as I can and not to hate me for leaving." Kristine choked back her tears, "and tell them, I love them." Logan walked up to Kristine, wrapped his arms around her waist, and held her close to him.  
  
"Only if you promise me something." Logan said as Kristine hugged him back.  
  
"Anything," She smiled into his shoulder.  
  
"If you need anything," Logan sternly told her, "and I mean anything, you'll call me."  
  
"I promise." Kristine said as she looked at him. They released their hold on each other and Kristine walked over to the dresser where her bag was. She picked up her bag and walked back to Logan and quickly kissed him on the cheek, "I'll be back."  
  
"Is that a threat?" Logan teased.  
  
"No, it's a promise." Kristine smiled as she walked out the door.  
  
Kristine walked out of the mansion and off the grounds of the school, thinking about where her past would take her now. Her first stop was back in Windsor to pack up things there, and send them to the Mansion. But after that, she had a tough mission ahead of her and there was no telling where she would end up now. 


End file.
